314. As constituency MPs, the information we receive
in our surgeries and in letters from our constituents can provide
a useful barometer of key problems with our local health services.
However, the fact that despite sexual health services reaching
crisis point in some areas sexual health problems are rarely,
if ever, brought to our attention by individuals illustrates the
culture of embarrassment and secrecy that still surround sexual
health in this country.

315. Attempting to change cultures and attitudes
that are deeply entrenched in the national psyche may seem a fruitless
aim. However, we were encouraged to hear the view of Gill Frances,
Policy Director at the National Children's Bureau, who argued
that the Netherlands is now starting to reap the benefits of sexual
health interventions put in place thirty years ago, as the young
people of the early 1970s have now had their own children and
are passing on a new set of values, where sex and sexual health
are openly discussed, to today's young people.

316. Responsibility for influencing societal attitudes
goes well beyond the sphere of Government. In this context, we
note that the BMA in their oral evidence said that their "main
area of concern" was the "lack of significant representation
of sexually transmitted infections as a significant health problem
in the media". They called on the Broadcasting Standards
Commission to survey this area and make representations to broadcasters
to assist here.[275]
Nick Partridge, for the Terrence Higgins Trust, pointed out it
was wrong to lump the media together in describing its coverage
of HIV/AIDS. He paid tribute, for example, to the educative impact
of the Mark Fowler story line in Eastenders, on which the
Trust had been consulted, and to the role of the Deirdre column
in The Sun. But he also noted the confusion and mixed messages
prevalent in the media, particularly denigrating "knee-jerk
reactions" to stories relating to sex education in schools.[276]
We ourselves witnessed at close hand the capacity of the British
media to trivialise and smirk at issues relating to sex education:
it struck us as depressing and distasteful that, when we took
evidence from young people aged 15 to 21, who showed real courage
in coming before a Parliamentary Committee and gave thought-provoking
and well-articulated evidence, this was largely reported by newspapers'
diary columnists. Predictably enough, their aim was to ridicule
the evidence we received and the young people who presented it.[277]

317. While we do think the media has a vital role
to play and we also acknowledge the key importance of societal
pressures we would not like to conclude our report without drawing
attention to the responsibilities individuals must take for their
own health. Drawing from the NATSAL, the PHLS point to "substantial
increases in high-risk sexual behaviours in the British population",
ranging from increases in the numbers of partners over a lifetime,
to a higher rate of concurrent partnerships, to an increase in
the proportion of gay men reporting unprotected sex.[278]
To some extent we have to acknowledge that individuals are making
choices, some of which are irresponsible, in that they lay not
only themselves but others to risk of harm.